From painting surveys that unflinchingly examine the human body to participatory projects by children, the continent is teeming with stimulating exhibitions

As spring breathes new life into Europe, museums are preparing for a season of must-see solo exhibitions. From blockbuster shows at major institutions like Tate Modern and Guggenheim Bilbao to hidden gems at smaller venues like Kunsthaus Biel and Kistefos, Art Basel has curated a preview of 25 unmissable exhibitions on view across the continent. Read on to discover them.

 

The show: ‘Ștefan Bertalan: In Tune with the World’
When and where: Art Encounters Foundation, Timișoara, Romania, April 3 – June 25
Why it matters: Decades ahead of his time, Bertalan’s radical exploration of sustainability, biomimicry, and AI presents a new perspective on our posthuman future.

Whimsical, ethereal colored pencil drawings of landscapes and wildernesses, close-ups of biological artifacts and growing organisms, are presented by the Art Encounters Foundation in this retrospective of Romanian artist Ștefan Bertalan (1930–2014). With over 250 works on show, including paintings, drawings, films, and archival materials this is the most comprehensive survey of the artist’s work to date. The exhibition explores a fascinating practice that combines art, technology, and nature. A key figure in Romania’s neo-constructivist avant-garde, Bertalan’s research into biomimicry, cybernetics, and environmental systems anticipated contemporary debates on sustainability and AI. S.H.

The show: ‘Frida Orupabo: Spectrum Internationaler Preis für Fotografie der Stiftung Niedersachsen’
Where and when: Sprengel Museum Hannover, Germany, April 5 – July 20
Why it matters: Injects European visual archives with racial diversity.

Frida Orupabo (b. 1986) creates digital and physical collages to explore questions related to family, race, gender, sexuality, and identity – and the violence often inflicted upon marginalized groups. Born in Norway to Nigerian parents, the artist specifically identified racism and misogyny as ‘blind spots’ in European visual archives. After searching in vain for points of identification and representation of her own world and lived experiences within such resources, she began examining depictions of Black people on the Internet. Using the images she finds, the self-taught artist overwrites these gaps with poetic montages and collages, a selection of which is on view in this exhibition. E.M.

The show: ‘Thomas Schütte: Genealogies’
Where and when: Pinault Collection at Punta della Dogana, Venice, Italy, April 6 – November 23
Why it matters: Why it matters: Schütte’s first major exhibition in Italy offers a material odyssey into the human psyche, underscoring his distinctive contribution to sculpture.

All shows at Punta della Dogana are worth a visit, if only to see the refraction caustics of the surrounding waters of Venice reflected in the museum space. Thomas Schütte (b. 1954) might agree, for the German artist has repeatedly stated that he is interested in space first and foremost, and objects only second. Still, it is the almost fifty figurative sculptures on view that seal the deal: Schütte’s idiosyncratic figures in clay, wax, ceramics, glass, steel, and bronze are enticing ­– even when they feel like the protagonists of a fever dream we would rather forget. R.D.

 

The show: ‘Teresa Solar Abboud: Bird Dream Machine’
Where and when: Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy, April 6 – October 10
Why it matters: This otherworldly environment is remixed and reimagined with each iteration.

To a great extent, we encounter visual arts through a pixelated flat screen. How satisfying, therefore, to come across artwork that cannot be flattened. The sculptures of Madrileño Teresa Solar Abboud (b. 1985) refuse to be consumed from afar. They are all-encompassing, often vibrant in color, and suggestive of giant body parts or foliage. The physical materiality is paramount, ranging from sleek and hard to soft and heavy. Sharing space with Solar Abboud’s work means feeling your own body breathe. Conceived as three chapters, with previous iterations at Museo CA2M in Madrid and MACBA in Barcelona, the three words of the exhibition’s title are reordered for each venue in a nod to the evolving nature of the exhibition. R.D.

The show: ‘Oliver Beer: Reanimation Paintings – A Thousand Voices’
Where and when: Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, April 4 ­– July 13
Why it matters: Beer excels at creating resonances, and tries his hand at orchestrating a thousand voices.

Last winter, over 3,000 French school children contributed to a collective reimagining of four classic artworks by Victor Brauner, Nina Childress, Sonia Delaunay, and Georges Rouault in the collection of the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris. British artist Oliver Beer (b. 1985) has previously been making waves as a semi-conceptual, site-specific sound artist and this approach to co-creation was novel even by his standards. For the second chapter of this two-stage project, Beer presents four films made up of the individual drawings, with a soundtrack compiled from the recordings made during the drawing and sound collection workshops. R.D.

The show: ‘Helen Frankenthaler: Painting Without Rules’
Where and when: Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain, April 11 ­– September 28
Why it matters: A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a biography of poetic abstraction come alive.

Paintings so large and soft you might get lost in them: Helen Frankenthaler (1928–2011) has become synonymous with a unique style of abstract painting, which she pioneered by soak-staining untreated canvas with heavily diluted paint. The exhibition celebrates the American artist’s body of work by bringing together large-format paintings held in major museum collections around the world. By arranging the works on view in chronological order, the show allows visitors to follow along with Frankenthaler’s ever-evolving artistic vision, and see how it relates to the works of her contemporaries such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Anne Truitt, whose works are also on view. R.D.

The show: ‘Francis Alÿs: Kids Take Over’
Where and when: Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany, April 12 – August 3
Why it matters: Children – and their enjoyment – are placed front and center.

Antwerp-born Mexico City-based artist Francis Alÿs (b. 1959) has been working on his video series ‘Children’s Games’ since 1999. Over 40 videos show children around the world, living in different environments, engaged in acts of play. In this show, 30 works from the series are on view alongside a group of the artist’s paintings. Alÿs also invited 50 students from two Cologne elementary schools to use part of the exhibition space to conceive a play zone and a children’s museum. Having worked on the project for over a year, the students selected artworks from the museum’s permanent collection to create their own curated exhibition. E.M.

The show: ‘Dafna Maimon: Symptoms’
Where and when: Kiasma, Helsinski, 25 April – 21 September
Why it matters: Our bodies are constantly warning us against burnout. ‘Symptoms’ shows this in absurd and playful ways, encouraging us to reconnect with and listen to our physical selves.

Expect to walk through an intestinal tunnel, encounter a cave-sized wisdom tooth, and meet an enlarged tardigrade (an indestructible, eight-legged micro-animal) in ‘Symptoms’, an exhibition by Dafna Maimon (b. 1982). The Finnish artist transforms Kiasma into an exploration of the human body and its needs. With her playful and surreal approach, she aims to examine how contemporary life disconnects us from our own physicality. Combining absurdity with introspection and playfulness with empathy, the exhibition invites viewers to reconsider the significance of self-awareness in the digital age. S.H.

The show: ‘Do Ho Suh: Walk The House’
Where and when: Tate Modern, London, May 1 – October 19
Why it matters: In an era of global migration and forced displacement, a home isn’t just a space, it is a place of memory.

Korean-born, London-based artist Do Ho Suh (b. 1962) has spent his life moving between different countries, and much of his artistic practice is a response to that experience. His vibrant and ambitious installations primarily consist of translucent fabric in a single color, delicately supported by thin metal poles to form 1:1 scale replicas of interior spaces and objects. Every detail, from doorknobs to light switches, is intricately rendered, evoking the sometimes faint memory of lived spaces. The exhibition features new works including Perfect Home: London, Horsham, New York, Berlin, Providence, Seoul (2024), a replica of the artist’s current home in London. S.H.

The show: ‘Pamela Rosenkranz’
When and where: Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, May 21 – August 24
Why it matters: In Rosenkranz’s synthetic sculptures, paintings, and installations, human identity is up for debate.

The work of Pamela Rosenkranz (b. 1979) attempts to explore how advanced technology, consumer culture, and human physiology overlap and intertwine. Using materials including Viagra, silicone, Ralph Lauren latex paint, pheromones, and synthetic pigments, the Swiss artist questions how biological processes shape perception. Her installations, sculptures, and paintings reference art history and contemporary commodities, from Yves Klein’s Blue to Amazon packaging. The exhibition at the Stedelijk features works such as the series ‘Sexual Power (Viagra Paintings)’ (2014) and Alien Culture (2017), which probe the neurological and evolutionary underpinnings of aesthetic experience. S.H.

The show: ‘Christina Quarles’
Where and when: Kistefos, Jevnaker, Norway, May 4 – October 12
Why it matters: Subverts notions of identity, gender, and desire – all within an architectural wonder.

Kistefos, a private foundation set in the countryside just north of Oslo, features a sprawling sculpture park and multiple exhibition spaces, including a twisting building spanning 60 meters across the Randselva river, designed by the star architects at Bjarke Ingels Group. Known as The Twist, the structure houses large-scale paintings by American artist Christina Quarles (b. 1985). Just as the building disrupts notions of what a museum can look like, Quarles’s work upends conceptions of the body, gender, identity, and desire through colorful, intertwined, and outstretched bodies – which through a prolonged gaze also reveal fragmented and disjointed limbs. E.M.

The show: ‘Susan Philipsz: The Lower World’
Where and when: MUDAM, Luxembourg, May 7 – October 18
Why it matters: Sirens lure the audience into a 900-meter-long tunnel, exemplifying this sound artist’s extraordinary command of her medium.

Scottish artist Susan Philipsz (b. 1965) is most widely recognized for her transformation of physical spaces through sound – and her latest endeavor is to enliven Luxembourg’s aqua tunnel. In the newly commissioned work, Philipsz combines the sounds of civil defense sirens with the song of the mythological Sirens, which is played on 12 speakers placed at various points throughout the 900-meter-long tunnel. As Philipsz told MUDAM, which commissioned the work, ‘The separated voices are arranged in such a way that the siren sound is in turn melodic, melancholic, dissonant, and haunting as it passes through the space: a current of sound that appears to rise and fall, coming in waves.’ E.M.

 

The show: ‘Julie Mehretu’
Where and when: K21, Dusseldorf, Germany, May 10 – October 12
Why it matters: Recontextualizes the artist’s practice with never-before-seen material.

Spanning her early urban-inspired line drawings from the 1990s to her most recent abstract paintings, the exhibition is an overview of the practice of Ethiopian American artist Julie Mehretu (b. 1970). Mehretu often begins her paintings with media images of political events or historical sites, which she then translates into buzzing abstract compositions. A selection of the artist’s source materials and works on paper – many of which have never before been shown publicly – is presented along with time-based media inspired by her work, including an album, a documentary, and a video. E.M.

The show: ‘Soshiro Matsubara: Sleeves of Desire’
Where and when: Dortmunder Kunstverein, Dortmund, Germany, May 17 – August 31
Why it matters: Site-specific textile installations transform a glass pavilion.

Throughout his practice, Vienna-based Japanese artist Soshiro Matsubara (b. 1980) mines the depths of human emotion and sexuality through installation, ceramics, painting, drawing, sculpture, and appropriation. For his first institutional solo show in Germany, Matsubara creates a new spatial installation in response to the Dortmunder Kunstverein’s glass pavilion and spiral staircase. The piece transforms the usually light-flooded hall with 14-meter-wide and 7.5-meter-tall hand-painted textiles covering each side of the façade, thereby altering the building’s relationship to the urban space outside. Matsubara also showcases additional fabric walls, a new series of drawings, and an editioned artist book. E.M.

The show: ‘Coco Fusco: I Learned to Swim on Dry Land’
Where and when: MACBA, Barcelona, Spain, May 22 2025 – January 11, 2026
Why it matters: Muses pertinently and powerfully on immigration and the rise of the right wing.

Taking its title from the first line of Cuban writer Virgilio Piñera’s micro-fiction Swimming (1957), the exhibition by Coco Fusco (b.1960) ‘I Learned to Swim on Dry Land’ centers on Cuba, the United States and its immigration policies, and the rise of the right wing. Such topics are tackled through a selection of the Cuban American artist and writer’s performances and publications, specifically those concerned with the significance of words, the symbolic use of silence, and the idea of inverted language as a tool for confrontation. E.M.

The show: ‘Jeremy Shaw’
Where and when: Secession, Vienna, May 29 – August 31
Why it matters: The Canadian artist once again proves that images should not be seen as testimony.

Known for his multidisciplinary practice, Berlin-based Canadian artist Jeremy Shaw (b. 1977) is concerned with altered states and the cultural and scientific practices that attempt to investigate or trace transcendental experiences. This exhibition highlights the artist’s inquiries via several recent large-scale installations, including the multimedia work Phase Shifting Index (2020) and the stained-glass piece Maximum Horizon (2024). The former blends science fiction, documentary, and visual effects to muddle the idea of linear narrative, while the latter adapts the Christian tradition of stained-glass windows to speculatively examine phenomena like the wormhole or vortex. E.M.

The show: ‘Małgorzata Mirga-Tas’
Where and when: Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria, June 7 – September 28
Why it matters: An artistic journey of reckoning and reclamation takes a new turn.

In 2022, the solo exhibition in the Polish pavilion at the Venice Biennale by Małgorzata Mirga-Tas (b. 1978) became something of a reckoning for the Roma community. Mirga-Tas continues to work with images that relate to her familial history as part of an ethnic minority, as well as reappropriating illustrations originally meant to stigmatize the Roma people. These works are on view at Kunsthaus Bregenz, alongside a new series of wax sculptures, shown here for the first time. These signal a departure from the figurative, large-format collaged textiles for which the artist has become known, and delve for inspiration instead into the dark forests of the Tatra Mountains in her home region. R.D.

The show: ‘Alexandra Bircken’
Where and when: Kunsthaus Biel Centre d’art Bienne, Switzerland, June 8 – August 31
Why it matters: With a background in fashion design, this artist uses her sartorial skills to cut to the chase.

Taken out of context, any object becomes a strange and wondrous thing. Alexandra Bircken (b.1967) turns the dial up to 11, pushing the concept of assemblage (and sometimes, séparage) to another level entirely. Her expanded sculptural vocabulary includes anything from empty packaging to AK-47s, and even a human placenta floating in Kaiserling solution. Bircken’s sculptures ask to be considered in relation to the body, challenging our understanding of the human form as separate from our built surroundings. After all, aren’t we so used to expanding our capabilities with moisture-wicking fabrics, blood pressure-controlling smartwatches, or the speed of motorcycles, that we forget we entered this world naked and afraid?

The show: ‘Yoshitomo Nara’
Where and when: Hayward Gallery, London, June 10 – August 31
Why it matters: Nara’s solitary figures are innocent yet rebellious – perhaps a reflection of our own collective unrest.

Spanning more than four decades of the Japanese artist’s work, this exhibition explores the evolution of the signature childlike figures with oversized heads and wide, expressive eyes of Yoshitomo Nara (b. 1959). Nara’s blend of fine art and pop culture aesthetics shines brightly in the paintings, drawings, and sculptures on view, which include rare, early pieces as well as the artist’s more politically and socially engaged works. This is Nara’s first solo museum exhibition in the UK, and expands on celebrated shows at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain, and Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany. S.H.

The show: ‘Mohamed El Khatib: Le grand palais de ma mère’
Where and when: Grand Palais, Paris, June 13 – 29
Why it matters: A rare chance to experience performances from the last 15 years by the French star auteur in one of the most spectacular buildings in Paris.

You’d be hard-pressed to find another artist able to compress so much life into such little space and time. The practice of Mohamed El Khatib (b. 1980) makes you feel like you’re standing at the bustling intersection of theater and art, but are being asked to observe the quiet hot dog seller on the corner instead. Organized in conjunction with the Centre Pompidou and held in the central hall of the Grand Palais, the two-week long exhibition presents three of the artist’s most emblematic multidisciplinary theater pieces, staged here as installations and projections, as well as an additional five pieces shown as live performances at night. R.D.

The show: ‘Wolfgang Tillmans: Rien ne nous y préparait − Tout nous y préparait’
Where and when: Centre Pompidou, Paris, June 13 – September 22
Why it matters: A photographer who redefined photography takes on an institution that redefined institutions.

It is a difficult thing to create a new aesthetic. And yet this is precisely what German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans (b. 1968) has done through his photography. Coming up in the early 1990s, his images have forced us to revisit our ideas about fashion, rave culture, politics, and sex, amongst other themes. Summer in Paris means Tillmans taking over the 6000 m² former public library space in an otherwise closed-for-renovation Centre Pompidou, where he showcases new installations, photography, and videos. R.D.

The show: ‘Anna Boghiguian’
Where and when: Turner Contemporary, Margate, United Kingdom, June 14 – October 26
Why it matters: Global power structures and the climate crisis are examined using textiles, salt, and the sound of the sea.

Egyptian Canadian artist Anna Boghiguian (b. 1946) typically combines intricate paper and cardboard cutouts of brightly painted animals and figures to construct immersive mise-en-scènes. At Turner Contemporary, Boghiguian’s exhibition explores trade, migration, colonialism, and environmental change. The show features some of her major works, including The Salt Traders (2015), an installation of suspended textiles alongside salts and sands from Çankırı covering the floor, combined with the mesmerizing sounds of waves and seagulls. A new site-specific piece responding to rising sea levels and to the local coastline reinforces Boghiguian’s focus on maritime history. S.H.

The show: ‘Britta Marakatt-Labba: Where Each Stitch Breathes/Juohke sákkaldat vuoigŋá’
Where and when: Moderna Museet, Stockholm, June 14 – November 9
Why it matters: Thread by thread, Marakatt-Labba stitches Sámi history, land rights, and climate resistance into textiles.

This exhibition showcases the singular and poignant work of Britta Marakatt-Labba (b. 1951), an artist belonging to the Sámi community, an Indigenous people of Northern Scandinavia. ‘Where Each Stitch Breathes/Juohke sákkaldat vuoigŋá’ presents works made by the artist over five decades, including around 60 embroideries, sculptures, installations, and graphic works. At the center of the show, visitors encounter Historjá (2003-2007), a monumental 24-meter-long embroidery narrating Sámi history, mythology, and contemporary struggles. In her work, Marakatt-Labba depicts her surroundings in Sápmi, blending intimate storytelling with political activism by documenting land rights conflicts, climate change, and Indigenous resistance. S.H.

The show: ‘Vija Celmins’
Where and when: Fondation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland, June 15 – September 21
Why it matters: No one travels further by staying so close to the surface than the Riga-born American artist.

The painstaking, minute drawings of Vija Celmins (b. 1938) have earned the Riga-born American artist wide acclaim from art lovers and critics alike. Coinciding with the start of Art Basel, Fondation Beyeler presents significant works by Celmins from the last six decades, showcasing her continued devotion to ornate surface structures and concepts of spatiality. Intricate spider webs, churning seas, endless night skies ­– the artist is quick to admit that familiar images are right up her alley. In the end, though, the paintings articulate something else entirely, revealing a profound exploration of time and memory. R.D.

The show: ‘Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting’
Where and when: National Portrait Gallery, London, June 20 – September 7
Why it matters: an opportunity to dive headfirst into the pleasures – and pains – of the flesh.

Unflinching, magnetic, and sometimes abject, the paintings of Jenny Saville (b. 1970) showcase the body in its rawest state. The British painter rose to prominence in the 1990s, as part of the wider group of Young British Artists. Her bruised, bleeding, and swollen female figures caused a scandal and still continue to attract and repulse audiences in equal measure. At the National Portrait Gallery, 50 works made between 1992 and today, including some that have never been seen before, illustrate the technical prowess and bold formal choices that have contributed to Saville’s legendary status as a painter of pain and pleasure. K.C.

Credits and captions

Rebecka Domig is an art historian, writer, and curator at Kornhausforum, Bern.
Sofia Hallström is a writer and artist based in London.
Emily McDermott is a writer and editor living in Berlin.

– Published courtesy of Art Basel.